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Born free, headed back to sea

A loggerhead sea turtle found injured in St. Catherines Sound two years ago will be set free at 1 p.m. on Tybee Island Saturday.

The public is invited to watch its return to the sea.

An unidentified boat's propeller sliced through the turtle's shell in May 2004. The injury turned the turtle into a "floater." Air in its body cavity prevented it from diving and foraging for food.

It was bobbing along, covered with green algae when Georgia Department of Natural Resources workers fished it out of the sound.

Since then, the turtle has been recovering at SeaWorld Orlando, where Jenny Albert, the aquarium's assistant supervisor, cared for it. The infected fracture went down to the bone, according to Albert.

"He was on lots of antibiotic treatments for a couple months," she said.

The turtle rehabilitated behind the scenes at the park, eating three squares a day of shrimp, mackerel, squid and clams with about 40 other convalescing turtles. The air trapped in its body dissipated.

Adult male loggerheads have longer tails than females, but at about 10-20 years old and 32 inches long, this turtle is still a juvenile.

It was one of more than 70 sea turtles that washed up on Georgia's beaches in May 2004 for reasons that remain mysterious.

Most were dead.

But three were transferred to rehabilitation facilities in other states. The turtle to be freed Saturday is one of the two which survived.

It went to SeaWorld because Georgia has no facilities to rehabilitate sea turtles, though a $2 million Sea Turtle Center with surgical and rehabilitation areas is expected to open on Jekyll Island next year.

The science center staff and DNR workers will carry the turtle over the boardwalk, through a path that's temporarily fenced off, and put it down a few yards in front of the water, according to Lara Griffith, the center's sea turtle project coordinator.

The turtle isn't expected to linger or offer long farewells, Albert said.

"When they get released, they don't wait. They take off like a rocket. It's totally instinctual with them."

Witness the release

A loggerhead sea turtle, like the one shown below, that was injured in 2004 and is now rehabilitated will be released at the 14th Street beach near the pier at 1 p.m. Saturday.

All proceeds from the Tybee Island Marine Science Center Saturday will go to the sea turtle project. Other activities include a 5-kilometer fun walk at 8 a.m., and sea turtle films and a crafts table during the day at the center, located in the 14th street parking lot.